The Prize

So a successful Challenge will mean collecting 200,000 points.  What am I rewarding myself with if I do that?


It's called the Emissary and it's made by Geek Chic (http://geekchichq.com/).  It's a hand-crafted dining room table that also happens to be a gaming table.  It has a whole series of different options, but at it's core it transforms between a very attractive table, and a place to play boardgames, role-playing games or anything else that you might want to set up on a table.

Am I a geek?  Indeed I am, but it combines all the elements of a really good prize.  Something I've been eying for a long time, that has been too expensive to justify getting.  If I complete the challenge though the money spent will be worth it, since I'll be getting something nice in addition to dramatically improved health.

The site's fun to check out.  I recommend it.

Day 28

I always find it funny when Cracked has a fairly serious column.  Today they had a column on the "8 people who will ruin your attempt to lose weight" (http://www.cracked.com/blog/the-8-people-who-will-ruin-your-attempt-to-lose-weight/).  Well worth reading, both for the humor of the classifications, but also because you can totally identify some of the people in your life who match them.


For me, I've primarily got #8 "People who think they're doctors," and #5 "People who never think it's good enough."  The column captures one of the hardest parts of being on a diet.  Generally friends and family are very supportive, but there's always those who are going to nitpick every choice on the diet. 

If you calorie count, they'll tell you that the only way to do it is to count carbs.  If you go to the gym twice a week they'll tell you that's not going to do anything.  And if you struggle with the diet, those voices become louder and much easier to listen to.  Then either you fall off the diet, or start trying to "fix" it, when sticking with the changes to behavior and food will pay dividends in time. 

I checked on my weight around 30k points, and initially it looked like the extra week and 10k calories hadn't done much (maybe less than a pound).  Had I listened to those voices, I might have gotten disheartened or worse just randomly jumped onto one of the more complicated diet plans.  Instead I kept to the plan, ate a lighter meal plan on the weekend and weighed myself again and saw that the simple day to day variations of weight had deceived me.  It's about another four days before my next formal weigh in, but at least everything still seems on track.

The lesson: don't make things more complicated than they need to be and don't listen to negativity.  This plan I'm doing is a long term strategy.  I'm not going to lose 50 pounds in a month, but I don't want to.  If I did that, it would never stick, and I'd just end up back where I am.  I'm just planning to keep an eye on the eventual prize.  Literally in my case.

Food today: breakfast sandwich (300 calories), turkey sandwich (300 calories), grilled pork loin, rice and green beans (900 calories).  Exercise was the walk around downtown (100 calories).

Today's Results:
Daily Food Total:  1700 calories
Exercise:  100
Points Earned:  1400
Total Points Earned:  36920
Points to go:  163080

Day 27

Generally a good day at work.  Had a performance review that went well.  Didn't get hungry or tired early in the day so had my meals and snacks at the appropriate times.  Actually felt a bit more productive at work than I had in a few days (actually finished some work rather than getting partially there).  All in all the positive experiences on the day helped keep me positive on the diet.  There simply wasn't a drive to make myself feel "better" thanks to sugar.  Even dodged the Twizzlers that came out while hanging out with my friends.

Food today:  egg and cheese sandwich (300 calories), turkey sandwich (500 calories), part of an apple and a tiny bag of skittles (100 calories), dinner was penne with sauce and garlic toast (1000 calories).

Exercise was a walk at lunch (100 calories), and a little over a half-hour on the treadmill (378 calories).

Today's Results:
Daily Food Total:  1900 calories
Exercise:  478
Points Earned:  1578
Total Points Earned:  35520
Points to go:  164480

Day 26

So rather than go with one of my standard rotation of meals I went with something a little more fun.  Brinner.  That is, breakfast for dinner.  I made pancakes, scrambled eggs and a glass of milk.  Had I had any on hand I probably would have made bacon too (which might have pushed the calories a little high).  It's a weird sounding dinner, but it was tasty and fun.  May have to do it again some time.

Food today:  breakfast sandwich (300 calories), turkey sandwich (500 calories), an apple (90 calories), pancakes and eggs with milk (1000 calories).

Today's Results:
Daily Food Total:  1890 calories
Exercise:  0
Points Earned:  1110
Total Points Earned:  33942
Points to go:  166058

Day 25

Team Challenge (http://www.ccteamchallenge.org/) was both a great training program for a half-marathon, and a great experience in general.  Meeting new people, learning strategies to help with training, and just generally learning more about Crohn's and Colitis.  The biggest lesson I learned from the training program though is that it is a thousand times easier to go running with people rather than do it alone.  Luckily the past couple of weeks I've been meeting up with some people from the team to go running.  Since I'm planning to do T.C. again, it makes things a lot easier to get prepared for the eventual training.

For exercise today I went running.  We did about 3 miles total in 45 minutes which I'm calling around 400 calories.  Food today was straightforward enough.  Another breakfast sandwich (300 calories), a peanut butter sandwich with a glass of milk for lunch (700 calories), and dinner was salmon, rice and green beans (900 calories).  The only snack was a slice of cheese (100 calories).

Today's Results:
Daily Food Total:  2000 calories
Exercise:  400
Points Earned:  1400
Total Points Earned:  32832
Points to go:  167168

Day 24

Another vacation day, and another day of being a bit lazy.  Slept late, went grocery shopping, then watched TV and played video games.  An example of healthy living it wasn't really.  Egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast/lunch (300 calories), and Penne with sauce and garlic toast (1000 calories) for dinner.  No snacks, and no major complications on the day.

Today's Results:
Daily Food Total:  1300 calories
Exercise:  0
Points Earned:  1700
Total Points Earned:  31432
Points to go:  168568

Day 23

One of the quirks of my diet, since I've been trying to control the number of calories, has been the fact that I've cut ground beef out.  Usually I would have hamburgers, meat sauce, lasagna or meatballs.  All of these would use a fair amount of ground beef.  Just the nature of the diet has limited that a fair amount.  Nothing wrong with making any of these, I just haven't.

Today I satisfied the craving I didn't even know I had.  I went with some friends to Mohegan Sun Casino, and after walking around exploring, we went out to dinner at Johnny Rockets.  Got a burger, fries and a diet soda.  It was more tasty then I expected simply because of satisfying that craving.  Johnny Rocket's doesn't post their nutritional information, but I found a couple websites with nutritional info.  I'm rounding up my meal a bit, just because I'm suspicious of the values.  The burger should be around 800 calories.  The fries around 600 calories.

Breakfast and Lunch were combined (vacation days and sleeping late are fun), and I had a grilled cheese sandwich and a glass of milk (700 calories).  I also went to the gym (407 calories expended).

Today's Results:
Daily Food Total:  2100 calories
Exercise:  407
Points Earned:  1307
Total Points Earned:  29732
Points to go:  170268

Day 22

My first day earning less than 1000 points, and all because of a snack I probably shouldn't have had.  Forgot to bring an apple today, so when it came time for a snack (and some additional caffeine) I grabbed a bag of chips and a diet soda.  What I glanced at and disregarded, was that the chips were 300 calories.  The rain today didn't help, since I bailed on going to the gym as a result of getting soaked on my way home.

I had considered manipulating my dinner in order to guarantee I hit at least 1000 points, but in the end decided to focus on just maintaining the diet to the best I could, without trying to manipulate the day's score.  Breakfast was a breakfast sandwich with an extra piece of cheese (350 calories).  Lunch was PB&J (600 calories).  Dinner was spaghetti, sauce and garlic toast (1000 calories).  Snacks were the aforementioned bag of chips (300 calories).

Today's Results:
Daily Food Total:  2250 calories
Exercise:  0
Points Earned:  750
Total Points Earned:  28425
Points to go:  171575

Day 21

Pretty much a routine day.  Went to work, came home, watched some TV and played some video games.  Sadly none of these activities magically burn excess calories.  Food was pretty routine as well.  Breakfast was an egg and cheese sandwich (300 calories).  Lunch was PB&J (600 calories).  Snack was an apple (100 calories).  Dinner was grilled chicken, noodles and baked beans.  Baked beans have a surprising number of calories, so the total dinner was around 1000 calories. 

Exercise was just a walk at lunch around downtown (100 calories)

Today's Results:
Daily Food Total:  2000 calories
Exercise:  100
Points Earned:  1100
Total Points Earned:  27675
Points to go:  172325

Day 20

I probably notice it more because I'm trying to eat healthy, but boy do my co-workers bring in a lot of nice snacks.  Today it was some bags of really nice cookies.  I had one chocolate chip cookie with my lunch.  It seems like a dumb strategy, but I ate the cookie first so that the lunch would wash away the cookie aftertaste.  In the past that leftover flavor of the cookie both reminds me that they're available and makes me want to eat more of them to get rid of the aftertaste (which becomes a vicious cycle).  Also hit the gym again.  I'm almost certain to sign up for Team Challenge again, and this time I want to be a bit more ready when the training runs start.

Another egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast (300 calories).  Lunch was PB&J (600 calories).  Snacks were a chocolate chip cookie and an apple (200 calories).  Dinner was steak, noodles and green beans (1000 calories is the estimate though again that's high).  I did a walk at lunch time (100 calories), and a half hour on the treadmill (255 calories).

Today's Results:
Daily Food Total:  2100 calories
Exercise:  355
Points Earned:  1255
Total Points Earned:  26575
Points to go:  173425

Day 19

Apples as a snack seem to work pretty well, at least until they're out of season.  They're not my favorite food, but that may be because they're not deep fried and/or smothered in chocolate.  At the very least they'll serve as a healthy snack to bring to work.

Food today was routine, and takes us back onto the usual rotation of dishes.  Breakfast was another egg and cheese sandwich.  Today, it didn't last as long before I got hungry but it still worked (300 calories).  Lunch was a PB&J sandwich, the calorie measurements on the packaging measure in tablespoons rather than more useful measurements so I may be guessing high on the calorie estimate (600 calories).  Snacks were an apple and a leftover piece of Halloween candy (150 calories).  Dinner was pasta, tomato sauce and garlic toast (kind of a repeat from last night, though more generic, but I was lazy when I got home).  Boring I know but easy to make (900 calories).

At lunchtime I went for a walk around downtown.  Probably about 100 calories worth of exercise.

Today's Results:
Daily Food Total:  1950 calories
Exercise:  100
Points Earned:  1150
Total Points Earned:  25320
Points to go:  174680

Day 18

Parties may very well kill my diet.  Had a birthday party today and therefore ate a little more unhealthy than I would have liked.  With Thanksgiving and Christmas coming up though, I'm not sure what's going to happen.

Food today began with a breakfast sandwich, egg and cheese again (300 calories).  There wasn't really a lunch or dinner independently, but something mid-afternoon.  For that meal we had butternut squash, garlic bread and pasta in a cheese sauce of some kind (I'm going to guess high and say 1000 calories).  Snacks is where the calories really came from today.  A handful of potato chips was 200 calories and 1.5 pieces of ice cream cake I'm calling 400 calories.

On the plus side for the day, I went running and walking in the morning with some friends from Team Challenge.  That netted me 300 calories in exercise for the day as well.

Today's Results:
Daily Food Total:  1900 calories
Exercise:  300
Points Earned:  1400
Total Points Earned:  24170
Points to go:  175830

Day 17

Ah the weekend!  Sleeping late, playing video games, and eating junk food.  Well two out of three isn't bad anyway.  No major difficulties today, though I only had a late breakfast and then dinner.  I don't really have any interesting thoughts for the day.

For breakfast/lunch it was toast with peanut butter and a glass of milk (700 calories, though that's probably a high estimate).  Dinner was penne, sauce and garlic toast (900 calories).  All in all, it was a pretty good day.

Today's Results:
Daily Food Total:  1600 calories
Exercise:  0
Points Earned:  1400
Total Points Earned:  22770
Points to go:  177230

Day 16

Today was the first formal weigh-in.  I decided to do it in the morning before getting into the day, since it's targeted at the every 20K mark, and breakfast is starting the new period.  Does that really matter?  No, of course not, but it provides a little extra structure to the process.

Weigh-in result - 252.2 lbs. 

So in the first 20,000 calories I lost just shy of 14 pounds.  Of course this is the easy weight.  Any time I start a diet, the first 10 pounds or so comes off easily, then it slows down dramatically.  Still, it's a step in the right direction.  Hopefully the next 20K will take off even a third of that.

No real challenges today, but also no major accomplishments either.  Breakfast was another egg and cheese sandwich with milk (300 calories), I'm going to have to look at some other similar meals because it just works a lot better than cereal.  I've been told in previous day's comments that this has to do with protein, so I'll have to keep my eye out for interesting recipes that are low in calories.  Lunch was a turkey sandwich again (500 calories).  Dinner was salmon with green beans and noodles (900 calories).  Snack was one mini-candy bar (50 calories).

Today's Results:
Daily Food Total:  1750 calories
Exercise:  0
Points Earned:  1250
Total Points Earned:  21370
Points to go:  178630

Day 15

Today was a pretty stressful day.  Spent three hours on the phone trying to handle having cable installed.  Then had to work, plus my iPhone isn't actually making my music available since the new OS was installed and I can't seem to fix it.  Needless to say I was frustrated.  It's Day 15 of the challenge and cheating on the diet has never looked quite so tempting.

Luckily I was able to avoid it, so far at least.  However stress definitely seems like it's the biggest danger to the diet.  My food tends to be kind of boring, and therefore a lot easier to decide to get something different by going out and overeating someplace.  The real danger though seems to be the combination of needing something to "make me feel better," and a little bit of, "this day was just too much, I don't even want to think about cooking."  It's really easy to order the pizza, run out to the burger joint or go grab take out from the italian place. 

Instead of rushing to "get everything done," I took a bit of time after getting home and let myself calm down a bit.  Once I did that it was a lot easier to persuade myself to grill the chicken rather than find someplace that deep-fried it instead.  Would that work for everybody, probably not.  It might not even work for me next time, but trying to calm down and remind myself that the chaos didn't mean the day had to be a disaster meant I didn't make it worse by going crazy with food.

So what did I eat.  It was another egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast (300 calories).  It's the same calories as the cheerios, but for some reason it seems to last a lot longer before I feel hungry.  Another turkey sandwich for lunch (500 calories), also does a really good job of keeping me satisfied.  Snacks today included one mini-butterfinger and a piece of cheese (not at the same time, but probably about 150 on calories).  Dinner was grilled chicken, noodles and green beans (900 calories again, as most meals with similar ingredients are).

Today's Results:
Daily Food Total:  1850 calories
Exercise:  0
Points Earned:  1150
Total Points Earned:  20120
Points to go:  179880

Since I've passed 20,000 calories I'm going to make tomorrow morning my first formal weigh-in.  I'm going to try less formal ones every 10K or so, but I'll post the 20K results here.  I was persuaded that weigh-ins will help me to know what is and isn't working.

Day 14

Well I had at least one reasonably healthy snack today.  While going through the cupboard I found a package of diced pears.  I do like those, and each cup is only about 70 calories.  So I've got that at least.

Beverages.  For anyone who's read my meal menus, most of the time you'll notice that I'm not putting in calories for beverages with most of the meals.  Mostly this is because I've either been drinking water, or diet beverages with 0 calories.  I've read in a few places that diet sodas, etc, are bad for dieting though there doesn't seem to be a great consensus on why they are.  I'm enough of a caffeine addict to recognize that a lot of my reluctance to give up soda is due to my addiction, but part of it is also that a lot of the other non-sodas, and particularly the non-diet sodas, are loaded with calories.  They may have vitamins and minerals, and not have aspartame or equivalent chemicals, but they're usually loaded with sugar and other calories.  If I start plateauing, then I may need to change that policy, but for the moment I think I'm going to drink the calorie-free drinks and see what happens.

Food today:  Cheerios for breakfast (300 calories), Turkey sandwich for lunch (500 calories), snacks were a cup of diced pears and a snack sized peanut M&M's (150 calories), dinner was penne with sauce and garlic toast (900 calories).

Today's Results:
Daily Food Total:  1850 calories
Exercise:  0
Points Earned:  1150
Total Points Earned:  18970
Points to go:  181030

Day 13

Snacks.  They're both great for holding off the hunger and preventing me from feeling like crap.  They're also incredibly easy to overindulge in, without realizing quite how many calories you've eaten.  Today I had three different snacks with wildly different results.  I took a mini-Hershey's bar (Halloween candy size), which was tasty and not too bad (about 50 calories or so, though I rounded up to 100 for the count), that's probably the best of the snacks I had.  I also had a banana that I brought to work with me.  I got halfway through that before I remembered, "I don't actually like bananas."  An entire banana is around 100 calories, and is actually very filling and healthy.  It would make a great snack.  Unfortunately I just don't like them.  So 50 calories from that.  Then while hanging with my friends tonight everyone else was eating Dorito's.  I didn't even have to look at them to know they shouldn't be included in the diet.  However one friend had brought a bag of Twizzlers, surely I can have a couple of those without a problem, there's just nothing there.  After having three, I discovered one serving is three Twizzlers, and a serving is 180 calories!  Luckily I stopped there.

So what's this mean, pretty much I've got to keep looking around for a good snack that's also healthy.  Not sure what to go with next.  Probably apples.  I think I liked those as a kid.

Food today was a little different anyway.  Egg and cheese on an english muffin for breakfast with milk (300 calories).  Turkey sandwich for lunch (500 calories, and yes I know that one in particular is repetitive).  Dinner was grilled pork loin with noodles and green beans.  With a half-pound pork loin, that equals about 900 calories combined, which is another reasonable dinner.  Those 3000 calorie 5 guys trips just seem even more ridiculous in comparison.  Also went to the gym after work and did a half-hour on the treadmill (350 calories).

Today's Results:
Daily Food Total:  2030 calories
Exercise:  350
Points Earned:  1320
Total Points Earned:  17820
Points to go:  182180

In case anyone wonders, my calorie estimates are calculated using the labels on whatever box, plus weight measurements of meat.  The calorie values for any unlabeled foods usually come from http://caloriecount.about.com/.  All estimates are then usually rounded up to the next 100 or so, in order to provide a cushion and help counter any underestimating I'm doing.